Apple said it removed AppGratis for violating a clause in the iOS
developer guidelines that prohibits apps from mimicking the
official App Store.

But there's a disconnect between AppGratis's official statements
about how it promotes apps and how it attracts developers for
such promotion.

Specifically, AppGratis gives developers an estimate of where in
Apple's App Store rankings an App can land based on how much the
developer is willing to pay, according to a document from the
company's pitch that a source in the developer community sent us.

For example, this document shows AppGratis estimates a ~$300,000
buy will land an app in the top five slot in the US version of
the App Store.

Here's a look at the document. It includes pricing and estimates
for App Store rankings in a variety of countries:

Mobile media buyers know exactly what # of installs they need to
reach the top of any App Store in the world.

Since the App Store algorithm has been based on download velocity
only for so long, advertisers know exactly what they are doing.
Reaching the the top of any App Store is a simple and
logical equation.

But we’re not in this business.

We’re in in the business of helping the end users discover new
apps, and to serve this mission, we’re playing the long run.
We’re building a community. We’ve never been in the
business of gaming the top charts or anything. This
is a very strong statement from us.

When reached, Dawlat gave a statement that largely echoes the one
he gave TechCrunch.
Dawlat compared AppGratis's strategy to normal mobile ad buys
through services like iAds.

"I believe the document you got shows install, ranking and CPI
estimates for AppGratis on a per-country basis," Dawlat wrote in
an email, referring to the leaked document posted above. "Today
mobile media buying is this simple equation where the biggest
industry players will acquire a certain number of installs
through guys like AppGratis, Facebook
Mobile Ads, Apple's iAd and all the other guys in order to reach
their ranking objective –– whatever they are."

But based on the document, it's clear that AppGratis was using
App Store rankings as bait to attract developers with deep
pockets. Several developers told us last week that AppGratis
attracts money this way, but we didn't have proof until now.

Dawlat declined to comment any further when asked to expand on
his statement.

An earlier version of this article stated that AppGratis
estimated about $100,000 would get an app into the top 5 list of
Apple's App Store. It's actually closer to $300,000. (100,000 x
$3 cost per install rate.)